A mother-of-three has said families should “have the right to be together regardless of what their income is” as she remains in limbo due to changes to visa rules.
Italy-based Scot Sarah Douglas, 42, fears having to live 1,400 miles away from her children as it would be impossible for her family to move because she does not earn enough as a part-time English teacher.
Earlier this week, Tory visa rules to stop people earning under £38,700 from bringing foreign partners to Britain were paused by the new Home Secretary.
Yvette Cooper confirmed there will be "no further changes" to the current £29,000-a-year wage threshold Britons need to bring a family member from abroad until a review of the family visa policy has been completed.
Asked if she still felt the same way after Labour announced it was reviewing the changes to family visas, the mother said: “It still feels that way because there are still plenty of people who earn less than that.
“There are pensioners who meet someone later in life, and their income does not reach that, I don’t see why they don’t have the right to fall in love with whoever they want.
“Young people, just out of university, maybe in their first job. It affects all of these people. It’s not right that only those earning over any amount have the right to do that.
“Here in Italy, I qualified for Italian citizenship after two years of marriage. There were no income requirements at all.
“It is just seen as a right of an Italian person that you can have your partner in the country to live with you. They don’t look at finances at all.
“They do a language test, a criminal background test and that is it. I think that should be the case everywhere that families have the right to be together regardless of what their income is.”
The mother had planned to relocate to be close to her family in Hawick, Scotland, with her Italian husband Matteo Ricci, 40, and their children Alba, 12, Mirryn, nine, and Arthur, four, before Conservatives announced the changes in December.
The minimum income was raised from £18,600 to a £29,000 per year by Rishi Sunak’s government in a bid to help bring down the UK’s record immigration numbers.
Under the old plans the lower wage limit was set to increase to £38,700 in 2025.
Mrs Douglas said that she was hopeful that the independent review, which is expected to take around nine months, would make a difference but the £29,000 cap was still too high for her family to be able to move to the UK.
The family have already spent three years saving to try and move back to Scotland and described how it would be a “huge relief” if the increases under the Conservatives were reversed.
The mother also worries about what life may be like if the family can move and has questioned whether it will be worth moving back to Britain due to the hostile environment which makes life difficult for migrants living in the UK.
She added that it was “hard to be hopeful” about moving to the UK and her husband has been worried about how he may be treated.
Mrs Douglas continued: “He wonders about how he would be treated as an immigrant. He has heard of the difficulties people have had. We ourselves on social media have had comments.
She added: “It does just make us wonder if we have to go through all the financial stress and jump through all of these hoops will it really be worth it when the UK does not seem to welcome families like ours anyway?
“At the moment everything is up in the air, we feel a bit in limbo. We can’t really see where we will be in five or 10 years time. It’s hard to make any definite plans.”
Caroline Coombs, director of Reunite Families, told the Standard Britain is “one of the harshest countries in the world for family reunion”.
She added: “The UK spouse migration policy has remained under the radar for 12 years with the public having no idea that British citizens are massively restricted from a family life even when they have children together.
“When they are told they are shocked, wondering why on earth can’t a Brit be here with their loved ones.”
Ms Coombs added: “Half the country doesn’t earn £29,000 especially enforced single mums, people living outside of the capital, young couples at the start of their careers or older couples who’ve found love again later in life – even a quarter of the Home Office’s own staff don’t meet that threshold.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Minimum Income Requirement for family visas needs to balance a respect for family life while also maintaining the UK’s economic stability.
“To help ensure we reach the right balance, we are pausing further changes to the requirement while the Migration Advisory Committee conducts an independent review.”
